


True Colors

by Darkangel19881



Category: Naruto
Genre: Comfort, Friendship, Gen, Hurt
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-26
Updated: 2017-08-09
Packaged: 2018-09-26 23:10:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,837
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9928199
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Darkangel19881/pseuds/Darkangel19881
Summary: Sakura will come to regret not accepting Naruto's apology, after a mission goes wrong and Naruto risks his life to save his teammates. Will they discover the traitor among them before Naruto pays the ultimate price?





	1. Chapter 1

“Come on Teme,” A blonde loud mouthed Nin shouted “You can admit that you are my friend.”  
“No, Naruto we are not friends.” Sasuke Uchiha huffed out an annoyed breath. “I don’t have any friends.” Naruto scowled at his dark haired teammate.  
“You should stop whining Naruto” Sakura admonished. She was tired of listening to him being all loud and annoying. Not to mention she was a still a little angry at him for bringing their mission to an early end, which meant that no one got paid for it. If it hadn’t been for Naruto goofing off instead of doing what he was supposed to be doing and helping clean up the litter by the river, Sakura wouldn’t have a broken wrist, and they wouldn’t be on their way back to the leaf village.   
“Then admit that you are my friend.” Naruto responded, his bright blue eyes eager for any kind of affirmation of their friendship.   
“Your not my friend either.” Sakura told him scowling, and ignoring the hurt look in Naruto’s blue eyes. She didn’t care if his feelings had been hurt, her wrist was killing her and she couldn’t help but wonder how she would be able to pay for the treatment since they weren’t getting paid for this mission.   
Naruto frowned and glanced away wondering if his teammates would ever come to accept him as anything more than an annoyance.   
“Come on, Sakura why can’t you admit that you like me?” Naruto wondered.   
“You are obnoxious and annoying” Sakura responded “and you act like a clumsy idiot all the time.”  
“I don’t think it’s an act, Sakura” Sasuke pointed out “Naruto really is just that stupid.” Naruto scowled at Sasuke, his hands clinching into fists. Naruto couldn’t understand why his teammates couldn’t stand being around him. Naruto tried his hardest to get them to see him as a part of the team, but they refused to acknowledge that Naruto done any good. Even on this last mission to the waterfall village, Naruto had worked hard to prove that he wasn’t just an idiot, however he had gotten bored and had overbalanced on the the rock that he had been standing on and had fallen over, right on top of Sakura sending her to the ground and breaking her wrist.   
“why are you always so careless!” Sakura yelled, holding her injured wrist to her chest. “If you could just sit still for once in your life, maybe we could actually accomplish something with this team. But with you constantly screwing up we have no chance of ever getting anything done.” Naruto stared at her, his hand rubbing the back of his head, as a blush had spread across his face. He hadn’t meant for Sakura to get hurt, but Naruto found it hard to sit still for long periods of time.   
“I wish someone else had been put on this team and that you had never managed to graduate with us. Team 7 would be better off without you.” Naruto wasn’t sure how, but he had somehow managed to keep his tears at bay at her angry words.   
“you should probably leave her alone.” Kakashi had told Naruto after wrapping Sakura’s wrist up in a sling. “We are going to have to go back to the village so that Sakura can get her wrist fixed.”  
“I can stay here and help the villagers here.” Naruto said, ignoring the ache in his chest as both Sakura and Sasuke let out a harsh sounding laugh.  
“Yeah right,” Sakura had muttered “You cause more damage than you ever fix.”   
“Sakura’s right, you need to come with us so that you can stay out of trouble.” Kakashi told him and Naruto had never felt more depressed in his life. How could he ever prove himself if no one ever gave him the chance?   
Even though it had been a few hours since that incident, Naruto knew that both his teammates were still angry with him and he didn’t like it. It wasn’t like he had meant for Sakura to get hurt. Though trying to explain that to his team seemed to only make things worse. It had gotten to the point that Naruto had felt the need to ask if they were still his friends. He didn’t allow them to see the hurt every time they responded in the negative.   
“Sakura…” Naruto started but stopped when he felt Kakashi’s hand on his shoulder.   
“Just stop, Naruto” Kakashi said “They are angry right now, Sakura got hurt because of you. Driving them crazy isn’t going to improve their moods any.”  
“But Sensei.” Naruto started “I just want to make things better.”  
“You can do that by disappearing” Sakura muttered, not caring that Naruto had heard her careless words.   
“You should have thought about that before clowning around.” Kakashi told him “it’s your fault we had to end the mission early, which means no one gets paid.” Naruto grimaced at the reminder. It meant that Naruto would have to go without any decent food until their next mission. He knew Sasuke and Sakura would probably be more angry about the not getting paid part than anything else.   
Sighing, Naruto stuffed his hands into his pockets, trying to hide his growing depression and trying to ignore the sting of his team leader’s harsh words. Naruto hadn’t thought that he could ever feel so rejected in his life as he did at that moment. It had been a small misstep on his part, he had never intended for Sakura to get hurt because of him.   
“Sakura?” Naruto asked after a few minutes of silence.  
“What!” Sakura snapped sounding even more irritated than she had earlier. Naruto knew it was likely because of the pain in her wrist.  
“I just wanted to say sorry” Naruto murmured, his eyes staring down at the ground.   
“Your sorry doesn’t fix my wrist.” Sakura snapped “and it doesn’t get us paid for this mission.” Sakura glared at Naruto who continued to stare dejectedly at the ground.  
“I told you to leave her alone.” Kakashi told him harshly “She’s not going to want anything to do with you for a while.”  
“Apparently no one wants to.” Naruto muttered ignoring the glares sent his way. Sighing, Naruto allowed himself to fall behind Kakashi while Sasuke and Sakura walked out in front of him.   
Suddenly hearing a loud rumbling sound, Naruto looked up to see a massive pile of dirt and rock racing down the small mountain side towards them, both Sasuke and Sakura directly in it’s path. Without thinking about his own safety, Naruto rushed forward and roughly shoved Sakura and Sasuke out of the way. Naruto barely heard Sakura’s rage filled voice calling out his name before the landslide hit him, sweeping him away from his teammates. Naruto cried out in pain as he felt rocks and sticks tearing into his skin and he fell over a small cliff, his body landing roughly at the bottom before rocks and dirt proceeded to cover him up. Naruto could feel his bones snapping, and he felt his ribs give into the pressure that currently lay on top of him. As he lay there, his body hurting worse than any beating he had ever received. His body hurt so much that Naruto couldn’t help but wonder if Nine Tails could even heal him. He probably could if he wasn’t currently buried underneath this pile of dirt.   
“I’m sorry Sakura” Naruto murmured his chest filling with agony with each breath that he took. “I hope you guys are safe.” Naruto grunted when he felt another good sized rock slam into his chest, leaving him gasping for air.   
Naruto couldn’t stop the tears from filling his eyes as he struggled to to not lose consciousness. He couldn’t help but wonder if anyone would find him before it was too late, oxygen was limited in this hole that he found himself in. Naruto knew that he didn’t stand much of a chance of surviving being buried underneath all this rock and dirt. Naruto couldn’t help but wonder how things had been fine one minute and then the next they were fighting for their lives. Was this a natural occurring landslide or had it had help? Naruto couldn’t get rid of the feeling that there had been more to the villages request for help, and it was something that the village didn’t want known. Naruto could only hope that his teammates were okay and could make it back to the leaf village. Naruto only wished that they could be with him in his final moments, he didn’t want to die alone, even if his teammates though he was a loser. Having them beside him would be better than dying alone. Naruto knew without a doubt that he was dying his injuries were too many and too great for nine tails to heal all at once. Naruto knew he had several broken bones, and since half of his ribs had been crushed, he likely had internal bleeding somewhere. As for the lower portion of his body, Naruto couldn’t feel his legs and he supposed he should be grateful that he didn’t have to feel that pain.   
Drawing in a breath, Naruto winced at the pain in his chest. Coughing, he felt a warm cooper tasting liquid coat his lips, Naruto knew this was a sure sign of internal bleeding. That meant he would be lucky if he was found alive. Naruto couldn’t help but wish that he hadn’t made his teammates so angry with him, at least he could have gone into the afterlife with no regrets.  
Coughing again, Naruto could feel more blood rising in his throat, Naruto tried to ignore the pain in his head as he coughed ridding himself of the vile taste of blood.  
As time slowly passed, Naruto’s pain only grew worse even as he grew weaker. He knew he wouldn’t see anyone he cared about ever again, so he silently whispered his goodbyes as he slowly lost consciousness, not knowing that his teammates were searching madly for him.   
“Sensei?” Sakura paused her frantic search to look up at her masked leader. “Is Sasuke going to be okay?”  
“I don’t know, Sakura” Kakashi replied “we don’t know how far the landslide took him or how deeply he is buried.” he only hoped that they could find Sasuke and Naruto quickly. Kakashi wasn’t too worried about Naruto too much, he had the nine tailed demon to help heal him. Sasuke on the other hand, didn’t have anything to help him heal. Kakashi feared that Sasuke would only have a little time before he suffocated.  
Sighing, Sakura turned back to start digging through the rocks again, the pain in her wrist all but forgotten as she worried about her teammates. She hoped that both Sasuke and Naruto were okay, even if Naruto did get on her nerves.   
A few minutes later, Sakura heard Kakashi call out that he had found Sasuke who was unconscious but appeared to be all right. Giving up on the search for a few minutes, Sakura walked over to where Kakashi had laid Sasuke. His skin was dirty and bruised but didn’t appear too torn up. Sakura was grateful that Sasuke didn’t appear to be in any pain.  
“Stay with Sasuke.” Kakashi told her “I’m going to go look for Naruto.” Sakura nodded and sat down beside Sasuke, her mind drifting to thoughts of Naruto. Though the blond loud mouth annoyed her she hoped that he wasn’t seriously injured, she didn’t think she would be able to live with how she had treated Naruto before he had shoved her out of the path of the landslide. Hearing Sasuke groan beside her, Sakura turned her attention to the dark haired boy.  
“What happened?” Sasuke groaned, his body feeling like it had been run over.  
“Got caught in a landslide” Sakura answered.  
“Kakashi and Naruto?” Sasuke asked, shutting his eyes as the sun seemed brighter than normal.  
“Kakashi is okay.” Sakura answered “He’s out looking for Naruto now.” Sasuke frowned he could remember Naruto annoying both him and Sakura. Sakura had spent most of her time snapping at Naruto while Sasuke had chosen to ignore him. Sasuke also remembered hands on his back shoving him before the worst of the landslide had hit. Which meant that Naruto had been hit with the worst of the landslide which meant that the chances of actually finding their blond haired teammate alive was very slim.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2  
Breathing hard, Kakashi shoved rock after rock away, he had to find Naruto and soon, otherwise there wouldn't be anything for Nine Tails to heal. Worry was eating at Kakashi's heart, he had seen the look in Naruto's eyes when Sakura had been yelling at him. Naruto was feeling rejected by the ones who should have been totally accepting of him. Kakashi knew why Naruto acted the way he did, he was desperate for any kind of human affection. Which was normal considering how Naruto had spent so much of his time alone. When Kakashi found Naruto he would make sure that Naruto was never lonely again. As it was Kakashi was certain that Iruka was going to kill him for allowing this to happen.  
"Come on Naruto, where are you?" Kakashi wondered, he knew time was running out for his student. The sun was already starting to set in the sky. He had to find Naruto, he refused to give up. His sensei would be ashamed of him for allowing Naruto to be hurt like this. "Give me some kind of sign." Kakashi muttered before going through the signs to summon Pakun.  
"Yo, Kakashi" The summons greeted before looking around him at the devastation. "What happened here?" Pakun asked.  
"Landslide." Kakashi replied grimly "I need you to help find Naruto, he's buried out here somewhere and I fear that he could be badly injured." Pakun nodded and lowered his nose to the dirt, he had always liked Naruto even if the kid had the tendency to be too loud from time to time.  
"I fear if we don't hurry, it won't be a search and rescue it will be a body recovery." Kakashi said before he began sifting through the dirt again. He hadn't wanted to alarm Sakura once Sasuke had been found but now Kakashi grew more worried. Hours had passed since the landslide had occurred, Kakashi should have been able to sense Naruto's chakra but he couldn't sense anything, but Sasuke and Sakura's chakra and from the looks of it both teens were headed his way.  
"Did you find him?" Sakura asked, not liking the worried look on her Sensei's face. If their Sensei was worried that must mean that Naruto was in serious trouble. Would Sakura ever get to make it up to Naruto for being so mean to him? What if Naruto died thinking that his own teammates hated him? Tears formed in Sakura's eyes at that thought, she knew that Naruto acted the way he did because he was lonely and wanted friends. To think that Naruto's final moments were spent trying to save her when she didn't deserve it hurt. How had this day turned into such a nightmare?  
"Please hang on Naruto" Sakura murmured, feeling more scared the longer they spent looking for and not finding Naruto. Sakura hoped that where ever Naruto was that he wasn't suffering too much at that moment.  
"We are going to find him" Sasuke told her "Naruto wouldn't die so easily." at least he didn't think so, it all depended on how badly injured Naruto was. Looking up at the darkening sky, Sasuke wondered if they would find Naruto before the sun went down. If they didn't find him, Naruto's odds of survival went down drastically. That was if he was even still alive. Sasuke had to admit that there was a possibility that Naruto was no longer among the living. Sasuke didn't understand why his heart ached so much at the thought.  
"How did this happen?" Sakura wondered "One minute things were find then the next Naruto is just gone."  
"I don't know" Kakashi answered "But Naruto is running out of time. I thought Pakun would have picked up his scent by now." Sasuke frowned and found himself wondering away from where Kakashi and Sakura were digging. Sasuke had seen the dejected look in Naruto's eyes when Sakura had refused to accept Naruto's apology. It made Sasuke wonder what thoughts had been running through the blonde's mind at the time. Sasuke couldn't ever remember seeing Naruto look depressed, normally he was loud and annoying. Could that have been just an act to keep people from seeing the real Naruto?  
Out of nowhere, Sasuke hears a sharp bark from Pakun. Had Naruto been found? Sasuke watched Sakura scramble to her feet and rush towards the sound of the barking dog. Sasuke found himself following the sound, he only hoped that it wasn't too late to help Naruto. After all Naruto had been buried for hours now, most people couldn't go that long without oxygen. While his gut told him it was too late for Naruto, he couldn't help but hope that Naruto had somehow managed to get himself out of harms way. Sasuke knew the chances of that were slim but it didn't stop him from wishing it.  
Upon reaching Pakun, Sasuke stood beside Sakura who had dropped to her knees beside the dog.  
"I picked up his scent through here." The dog told them "But I also picked up someone else's scent."  
"Why would someone else be out here?" Sasuke wondered as both Sakura and Sasuke began digging through the dirt.  
"Hang on Naruto" Sakura said as she shoved dirt and rock out of her way. "we are coming for you." she could smell a faint scent of blood, whether it was Naruto's or someone else's she didn't know. Sakura didn't care if the sun went down while they looked for Naruto, she was determined that he wasn't going to stay out here alone. Even if he had died already, his final resting place should be in Konoha beside his parents.  
"Sakura," Kakashi said softly after several minutes "I don't think we are going to find him tonight."  
"We can't leave him out here." Sakura said tears filling her eyes. Guilt was eating her alive, she couldn't believe she had treated him so badly and he had still tried to protect her.  
"I don't want to leave him out here either but we need to rest and you need to get your wrist checked out." Kakashi said.  
"You don't think he's alive do you?" Sasuke asked causing Sakura to grimace.  
"It's been hours." Kakashi pointed out "Naruto couldn't live that long without oxygen even if he didn't have serious injuries." that also depended on whether Naruto hadn't been killed as soon as he had been swept away by the landslide. However, Kakashi didn't think either Sasuke or Sakura needed to know about that.  
"You think he probably died hours ago don't you?" Sasuke asked narrowing his eyes at his team leader. Even if Kakashi thought that they couldn't handle it he should have told them what he suspected so they have found some way to prepare themselves.  
"Most likely" Kakashi admitted "We should have sensed his chakra by now if he was still alive." Sakura hung her head at Kakashi's words. Guilt was really starting to eat at her for how she had treated Naruto before this had happened. Sakura knew that Naruto acted the way he did out of loneliness which was something that she knew nothing about because she had a family to return home to while Naruto only had an empty apartment. Would it really have killed her or Sasuke to be a little more friendly towards him?  
"He's always been alone." Sakura murmured "he shouldn't have had to die alone too. That life could do that to him is too cruel." her eyes drifted to the dirt in front of her, she hoped that Naruto was somehow still alive but she knew that Kakashi was right, chances were Naruto had died hours ago, but even if that was the case Sakura was determined that they would bring him home so that his final resting place could be in Konoha where friends could easily visit him.  
Still, Sakura could smell blood so she knew someone wasn't too far from them, whether it was Naruto or not was still to be determined. They just had to keep looking for him, no matter how tired they were. Naruto wouldn't have rested if it had been one of them that was buried. She didn't care what Kakashi or Sasuke thought, she wasn't going to rest until Naruto was found. Bending forward, Sakura began digging through the dirt once again.  
"Come on Sakura" Kakashi said softly "we are not going to find him tonight, not without any light to see by."  
"Can't you smell the blood?" Sakura asked.  
"I can but that doesn't mean that it belongs to Naruto. There is no telling where his body is right now." Kakashi said softly.  
"He wouldn't give up on us" Sakura said as her hand came into contact with what felt like a jacket. "I think I found him." Sakura said as she began frantically digging, both Kakashi and Sasuke joining in.  
Within 30 minutes they had Naruto uncovered, his body bruised, bleeding and swollen. Naruto's face was so swollen it was barely recognizable, his lips blue from lack of oxygen. It didn't look like he was breathing. Terror filled Sakura's heart as she reached out and touched Naruto's face, his skin was cool to her touch, which meant that he had been dead for some time. Tears filled Sakura's eyes as she leaned forward and lay her head on Naruto's still chest.  
"I'm so sorry, Naruto" A shocked Kakashi said closing his eyes, trying to get the image of his student out of his head. He had thought that this would be a possibility but he had also thought that Nine Tails would have tried to keep him alive.  
Sasuke stared at Naruto's body in horror, he couldn't believe what he was seeing. Naruto didn't really look like Naruto, his blonde hair was caked in blood, and his face swollen. How could this be the one that he called a friend? Clinching his hands into fists, Sasuke felt rage fill him. How could this be happening? Was Sasuke's fate to spend his life suffering.  
Suddenly the rushing sound of feet made them pause in their mourning.  
"Kakashi, what happened here?" A familiar voice coming from a man with a scar across his nose asked.  
"Landslide" Kakashi replied "What are you doing here, Iruka?"  
"The Third Hokage came across a plot to lure Naruto to the waterfall village so that they could kill him. I was told to bring Naruto back to Konoha." Iruka replied.


End file.
